<audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1wT02XS0UB0kBnh7IvLg5MJwmS1XCxHAx">
</audio>
Air. It was rushing past, across my ears it was deafening and yet as my lips part not a sound emerges. I am left, captivated in terror and fear of the unknown. Falling further and further into the darkness around me. Consuming me. Everything that I am...everything that I have ever been...ever will be.
It is that last thought and feeling that hurt the most, to think about how this was the end of my future, one that had barely started. If only I could scream. To shout into the void, to show it that I was not afraid, that I was not to be forgotten or lost. That this…
Was not…
The…
[[End]]
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
<audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1wT02XS0UB0kBnh7IvLg5MJwmS1XCxHAx">
</audio>
With a start, I sit up in bed, the cool sheets a contrast to my sweat slick skin, my lips dry and cracked. Like I have not had a drink in sometime, which might explain why I felt so weak? Hand going to my head, trying to remember what was happening before I went to sleep. My mind was a haze, wrapped in a thick fog that refused to break, refused to yield to the prodding of my conscious mind.
What happened?
My thirst drives me from my bed and I stumble to the small bathroom for a drink. The glass appeared to have a thin film on it that I only noticed once my thirst had been slackened. Setting it down, I walked back to the bed, the sheets had the same thin film on them, though what that meant mattered not. Dressing, I leave my room. [[Was it even my room?]] How did I get here?
Thoughts pushed from my mind, it was not important. What was important was finding help, right?
</style>
<img src=https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/03/17/03/42/alien-3233076_960_720.jpg>
</div>
The Hall was as strange as had been my room, which was not saying much. Empty and covered in this film still and it felt like it was dust? How much [[time]] has passed? Where is everyone?
My lips part for me to try and call out once more, only to have silence. Air and even barely that, whispered past my lips with hardly a sound. It was like my voice was lost, gone in the space and time that which I cannot remember and I am forced to journey on in the [[silence]].
The hall stretches before me, dimly lit which was surprising to me. In a place that felt devoid of life the fact that there was any light at all was startling. Just enough to chase away the darkness but not enough to give the sense of activity and life that usually came from the presence of light. My steps were soft and slow, an attempt from my mind to keep the panic and fear down. If I really was alone, what was I to do? Would I ever know where I was? Know how I came to be there?
Finally, the hall ended and there was a door. One of the ones that slid open, though this door appeared to be stuck. Not fully closed, slightly ajar though there was just enough space that if I was careful I could slip past. However, though the door appeared to be stuck, there was movement, as if the power that controlled it was struggling to make the connection. Struggling to close it the last final bit.
[[Carefully Slip Past]]
[[Rush before it closes]]
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
<audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1wT02XS0UB0kBnh7IvLg5MJwmS1XCxHAx">
</audio>
It was a sterile environment that held up with the atmosphere being a place for the sick. Small, meant to be efficent, there were no closets or places to store peronsal belongings. Save for a table with a [[clipboard]] set atop it.
It held no clues as to whole I was or what I was doing (link-undo:"there").
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
</style>
<img src=https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/12/03/06/13/operation-theatre-555088_960_720.jpg>
</div><audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1wT02XS0UB0kBnh7IvLg5MJwmS1XCxHAx">
</audio>
Outside the room, there is dust everywhere. Almost like no one had cleaned or even moved through the hall in days, maybe even weeks. Not a single particle is distrubed, or at least that was until I started to walk through. Now, I am the only sign of (link-undo:"life").
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
</style>
<img src=https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/01/28/14/16/clock-2015460_960_720.jpg>
</div>
There was nothing. Not a sneeze, cough, shuffle. There was not a sound that I myself did not make. Adding to the feeling and sensation of being alone, so completely and totally (link-undo:"alone"). <audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1Y2QArTVzLov2GTdAxnFNwXLhyjr7Gd3X">
</audio>
Panic that it would close and I would be trapped there forever spurns me on with a sense of urgency. I try to force the door open more. Wanting to get out. To be [[free]]. To find someone.
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
</style>
<img src=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a3/1c/cd/a31ccd69ccdda8de861d235d8449baaa.jpg>
</div><audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1Y2QArTVzLov2GTdAxnFNwXLhyjr7Gd3X">
</audio>
Taking my time I managed to carefully slip past without touching the door, which appeared to be the smart move. For, just as my foot cleared the door I must have brushed against it and that was enough to cause the door to instantly slam close. So, I was safe, but also now trapped in this next area without a way back. As my eyes turned to look around me I was taken back by the beauty.
But most importantly, I am also taken back by the life.
A garden. Green and rich with trees and flowers, filled this space. I can even hear the faint sound of water rushing in the distance. Perhaps a small stream or pond? I can hardly hazard a guess but my gaze is drawn upwards. To the warmth of the light and welcoming appeal of a clear blue sky. Kicking off my shoes, my toes dig deep into the soft carpet of green damp grass. How? How has such a place existed and I never knew? Why was there such a [[place]]? Were there more?
These were questions that would likely never be answered for I care not for them. Not in that moment. No, in this moment I am merely revelving in the joy that such a place has brought to me. Tears brim my eyes unnoticed and the start of what can only be the kindling of hope burning inside me.
We are not alone. I am not alone.
Steps no longer slow and cautious are instead filled with a confidence that carries me through. Straight to a large great tree that seemed to be in the center of it all. An ashen trunk and warm to the touch, practically hummed with life. I place my hand and then rest my cheek against it, my eyes close and I just breathe. Listening to the life around me, I breathe and bask in this moment and that hope within starts to burn brighter and brighter.
</style>
<img src=https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/05/11/15/18/background-3390802_960_720.jpg>
</div>
“Foreign lifeform detected. Authorization code please.”
The voice snaps me from my happy place of peace, lips parting to answer though still no sound comes forth.
“Foreign lifeform detected. Authorization code please.”
Panic. It is returning and I fear there is no staving it off now.
“Purge. Initiated.”
The calm is gone and I run, fear moving me before the ground even begins to shake and I am left with the urge and instinct to [[run]].Though there is a fallen log, perhaps I can [[hide]] there?
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
<audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1Y2QArTVzLov2GTdAxnFNwXLhyjr7Gd3X">
</audio>
Like an oasis to my life starved form and mind. The grass is an emerald green and it feels like home. This was where I was meant to be, where I had always been meant to be. I want to stay here forever. Under the warm yellow light and blue above. Laying in the grass beneath the tree.
This is (link-undo:"place") is heaven.
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
</style>
<img src=https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/05/11/15/18/background-3390802_960_720.jpg>
</div><audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1Y2QArTVzLov2GTdAxnFNwXLhyjr7Gd3X">
</audio>
</style>
<img src=https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/07/02/12/21/eclipse-1492818_960_720.jpg>
</div>
I can feel this place wanting to collapse into me around me and before I can manage more than a few feet. I fall down into the darkness there and I am reminded of my dream. How I seemed to fall forever, never to hit the bottom. The light from the garden above fading, getting further and further from me.
Until at last I stop.
I have hit the [[bottom.]]
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
<audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1Y2QArTVzLov2GTdAxnFNwXLhyjr7Gd3X">
</audio>
Diving into the trunk, I try to slow my racing heart. To take a deep calming breath, but to no avail. The tight cramped space, it is almost suffocaiting me. Like something is cutting off my air.
Once more, I see that darkness. I see it and feel it closing in on me.
It is so hard to breathe. So...hard...
[[Start Over?->The Fall]]
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
<audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1a5wpQ-eX0r3NuAQi1rR3rst4ainJvbYO">
</audio>
There is the sound of a machine. Metal against metal, over and over again. The pace never wavering, constant, consistent.
Perfect.
Pushing up from the ground, I groan in pain. Lucky to be alive and only marginally hurt from the fall. I can move. Which means I can continue. Once more, we are in the dark, the only light, little that it may be, is of the blinking lights from the machines working tirelessly in the background.
</style>
<img src=https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/01/19/14/52/cave-1149023_960_720.jpg>
</div>
Far, far above I can faintly hear the sounds of birds chirping. They do little to comfort me and instead only bring me pain, emotional and mental anguish at the thought that I would never know such a world again.
Why?
What was going on? Why was this happening to me?
Once more, for what felt like the umtheenth time, I tried to scream. Tried to make a sound but nothing came. Alone and in silence. That was my life now.
There is the thought, to just lay there and not move. To stay in that spot and never move another inch. To just die there. Let the darkness [[take]] me. And not push [[on]].
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
<audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1a5wpQ-eX0r3NuAQi1rR3rst4ainJvbYO">
</audio>
It is easier to sit here. Let it have what it wants. Let them take me. My eyes open, when had they closed? And around me stand the machines that had been in the distance. Now, they encircle me. Eyes glowing read as they stare at me, stare through me.
"Foreign lifeform detected."
They repeat and I do not move. I do not fight.
I let the darkness take me in the red of their eyes.
[[Start Over?->The Fall]]
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
</style>
<img src=https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/01/19/14/52/cave-1149023_960_720.jpg>
</div><audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1Xjm2bsSwbk5_GTVrgGl9CtNxd5Bw5Piw">
</audio>
What will power that is still within. What light that still harbors within my soul, I do not surrender to it. Instead, I push to my feet and start walking. The cold harsh metal of the floor makes me long for the shoes that I so carelessly tossed aside. Yet, it does not stop me and I continue forward. I keep moving. Step after step. My hope, barely an ember but it is still there it is still burning.
I must not give in to the darkness. I must find out what happened.
Gradually, there is a change like I am ascending, moving higher toward where I had been. Not to the garden, I would assume, but away from the darkness and perhaps toward the light? Each step I feel more emboldened. This feels right. It is hard to explain and I will likely never be able to even with time, but the more I walk and the closer I get to wherever it is I am going the better I feel.
Beneath my feet the metal now hums and is warm. Still artificial but at least now it is warm and warmth means light...warmth means life. Before me there is another door, this one is completely closed but beside it is a number pad with a display asking for four numbers.
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
</style><left>
<img src=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a3/1c/cd/a31ccd69ccdda8de861d235d8449baaa.jpg></left>
</div>
Tears start to well as I think I am about to experience another defeat when I remember. Back in my room, written on the clipboard.
Four numbers.
What were they?
[[8945]]
[[9584]]
<audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1Xjm2bsSwbk5_GTVrgGl9CtNxd5Bw5Piw">
</audio>
Instead of opening, the door reveals a window. Out into that window is the darkness, but it is moving now. Coming closer to me, to the door and I know I am not safe. I know this is not going to protect me.
"Foreign lifeform detected."
With a crash the glass is gone and a darkhand grips my throat.
"Authorization Code. Please."
Still, not a sound leaves me lips.
[[Start Over?->The Fall]]
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
</style>
<img src=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a3/1c/cd/a31ccd69ccdda8de861d235d8449baaa.jpg>
</div><audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1pd1C-EOcG7vFccuewZEqtVQNAPum9uDr">
</audio>
Trembling hands try the numbers and my breath is held before I hear a hiss and the door starts to open. Behind it, a nearly blinding white light. My hand raised to shield my eyes and I am walking through it. Enveloped into the warmth, into the light.
GASP
“Foreign Lifeform Detected.”
Again. That voice, but I know what it is now.
I know.
Staring out at the muddled world, the near clear liquid obstructing my view but I know what to press. They told us about the emergency release button before putting us into the pods. With a hiss, the seal is broken and the fluid drains and I cough as I remove the tube that had been placed into my throat to keep my breathing.
GASP
AIr. Real air fills my lungs as I step with weak legs outside the pod. Stumbling over to the command console, hitting a series of buttons slowly before, “Authorization Code please.”
“Eve. Lt, Margo Eve.”
My Voice. That is my voice.
“Authorization granted. Emergency purge activation initiated.”
All around me, pods start to drain. The people inside waking.
We have little time, our pursuers have found us. We must fight.
We must fight the darkness.
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
</style>
<img src=https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/11/05/13/54/travel-1800268_960_720.jpg>
</div><audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1wT02XS0UB0kBnh7IvLg5MJwmS1XCxHAx">
</audio>
Where my name might have been there was nothing, blacked out and missing. I was going to set it back down when I noticed four numbers. Circled in red.
(link-undo:"9584").<audio controls="controls">
<source src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1Y2QArTVzLov2GTdAxnFNwXLhyjr7Gd3X">
</audio>
My haste was a mistake and I know it the moment the door shifts under my attention. Whatever had held it in place dislodges and the door starts to shut. With me still inside it.
There is no pain, which I suppose it a blessing, but the darkness starts to press in on me. Closer and closer until.
[[Start Over?->The Fall]]
<style>img {
max-width:100%;
max-height:100%;
}
</style>
<img src=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a3/1c/cd/a31ccd69ccdda8de861d235d8449baaa.jpg>
</div>